1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to food containers and more particularly, to an easy-open sealing type food container, which provides excellent sealing effects and facilitates opening.
2. Description of the Related Art
Plastic containers of box, cup and bowel types made by means of vacuum molding are suitable for keeping food fresh.
For keeping jelly, pudding, cheese or other liquid food, the food container must be well sealed, avoiding leakage during delivery or transportation.
FIG. 1 illustrates a food container 1 according to the prior art. According to this design, food container 1 comprises a container body 11 holding a liquid food 12, and a plastic film or aluminum foil 13 sealed to the top open side of the container body 11 to prevent leakage during delivery. This food container 1 is a disposable design, not re-sealable.
FIG. 2 illustrates another design of food container 2 according to the prior art. According to this design, the food container 2 comprises a container body 21, and a cover 22 hinged to the container body 21. The cover 22 has a retaining lug 221 protruded from the periphery for engaging a protrusion 211 at the rim of the container body 21. This design of food container 2 is adapted for keeping solid food 23. When used to hold liquid food, the retaining lug 221 and the protrusion 211 must be heat-sealed. However, it is difficult to open the food container 2 after the retaining lug 221 and the protrusion 211 are heat-sealed. When serving the contained food, the user may have to use a cutter or scissors to destroy the cover 22.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,056,138 discloses a food container, entitled “Triple seal container”, as illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4. According to this design, the food container 3 comprises a container body 31 and a lid 32. The lid 32 has a sealing edge 321 matting corresponding edge 311 of the container body 31, and a locking lip 322 protruding from the sealing edge 321 lockable to the edge 311 of the container body 31. This design of food container eliminates the problem of the food container shown in FIG. 2, however it still has drawbacks as follows:
1. The locking lip 322 is hooked on the bottom side of the edge 311 of the container body 31. When opening the lid 32, the user must pull the locking lip 322 away from the edge 311 of the container body 31 with the fingers. When pulling the locking lip 322 from the edge 311 of the container body 31, the user's fingers may be injured by the locking lip 322 or the edge 311 of the container body 31 accidentally.
2. The locking lip 322 enhances stability of the connection between the lid 32 and the container body 31 to avoid falling of the lid 32 from the container body 31. However, the abutment surface area 33 between the lid 32 and the container body 31 is a plane contact. Because the lid 32 and the container body 31 are made by vacuum molding, their wall thickness is thin. The tension or strength is insufficient to keep the abutment surface area 33 between the lid 32 and the container body 31 in a tight status. If the container body 31 falls down, a contained fluid 35 will leak out of the food container 3 through the gap 34 in the abutment surface area 33 between the lid 32 and the container body 31.
Besides, Inline Plastics Corp. provides a food container under U.S. Pat. No. 7,118,003, entitled “Tamper-resistant container”. Further, Belford Patrick Inc. provides a food container under U.S. Pat. No. 5,507,406, entitled “Tamperproof/Tamper evident container”. Furthermore, Hsin-Hung Chou discloses a food container under U.S. Pat. No. 6,883,678, entitled “Food container sealing structure”.
The aforesaid prior art designs enable a container body to be well sealed by a lid to prevent leakage. The “Food container sealing structure” was invented by the present inventor. According to this design, the container body has a peripheral coupling flange, and the cover has a peripheral coupling flange coupled to the coupling flange of the container body to seal the container body. The coupling flange of the container body has endless concave portions respectively formed in horizontal section and vertical section thereof. The coupling flange of the cover having endless convex portions respectively formed in horizontal section and vertical section thereof and respectively engaged into the endless concave portions of the container body. This design achieves excellent sealing effects. However, due to tight sealing, it is difficult to open the cover from the container body.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a food container, which achieves excellent sealing effects and facilitates opening.